TRUMBULL COUNTY Visitors bureau to lose contract

Seeking other proposals could keep the visitors bureau on its toes.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Convention and Visitors Bureau will have to re-apply for its job as the primary tourism-promotion agency for Trumbull County.
Today, county commissioners are expected to approve two separate measures to terminate a 20-year-old contract with the bureau and ask for proposals from other companies interested in doing its job.
Officials say they expect the bureau to submit a proposal that would lead to negotiations for a new contract. Commissioners and bureau officials have clashed over what bureau officials say are contract provisions that allow them to appoint their own board members.
"What I'm hoping for is we can draft up a contract that we all agree on," said Commissioner Dan Polivka. "If we can't, that is why the prosecutor is recommending we draw up the second step" of seeking other proposals.
Nothing unexpected
The move was expected by the convention bureau, said bureau attorney Jeff Kurz.
"What the convention and visitors bureau will probably do is try to make itself as much like other convention and visitors bureaus as possible by doing exactly what the audit told them to do," he said.
Results of a state audit of the convention and visitors bureau are expected to be released this week, Kurz said.
Other than the convention and visitors bureau, it is not clear who would want to take on promoting Trumbull County. In some places, public relations firms are contracted to do that work, said county administrator Tony Carson.
He said the work could be split among more than one organization.
"We are just going to give everybody a chance," said Commissioner James Tsagaris. "Maybe come up with some better ideas; maybe they will keep everybody on their toes."
Tourism promotion had been financed with the proceeds of the county's tax on hotel rooms. Earlier this year, commissioners voted to distribute all the room tax money to the Western Reserve Port Authority, but the distribution could be changed again.
siff@vindy.com